We recently attended NYSCC (New York Society of Cosmetic Chemists) Suppliers’ Day at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City, where we had the chance to speak with dozens of companies in the chemical industry who told us they were interested in updating their current websites. The reasons that they gave were similar, although not all applied to each company.

Here are the top three reasons that companies gave for wanting to update their websites:

1. Image The overwhelming majority of the company websites were built over five years ago, with many going back to well over a decade. While they may have been up do date when they were first built, today these websites look ancient. Can you imagine wearing the clothing you worse in the 1970’s today? Unless it was Halloween, you’d be laughed out of town or possibly hauled away for psychiatric observation.

Your company website represents your company’s image. A modern, well designed website creates a winning first impression and instills confidence in potential customers, clients and business partners. On the flip side, an old fashioned, outdated site does the opposite.

The companies we spoke with understand the role that their website plays in representing their image and creating a successful impression on potential customers and partners. They want to be viewed as innovators with cutting edge expertise and service, and NOT as the old guys that time left behind.

2. Structure In addition to their website design, many companies acknowledge that while they have good content on their websites, the information is not organized efficiently. That makes it very difficult for users to find the information they’re looking for. it also makes it hard for companies to make sure users get to see the information they want them to see.

Many of the companies whose websites we looked at have dozen, or even hundreds, of pages but there’s no easy way to navigate to those pages. They often have home pages that are cluttered with all sorts of stuff, some important, some trivial.

The most important aspect of an effective website is a well organized structure and navigation system that allows users to easily find and access the specific information they want.

3. Admin Another major complaint by companies was that they are unable to easily update and make changes to their website content. Their sites didn’t come with any sort of admin panel to allow them to easily modify/add/delete content. So if they need to make an important change they are stuck needing to call an outside contractor and pay them to do it. That equals wasted time and money.

4. SEO Although many of the companies we spoke with get most of their business through referrals or direct sales, most told us that they get inquiries from the web and that they would like to get more. To get found by Google and rank highly in Google search results, a website needs content that is properly optimized (SEO – Search Engine Optimization). Most of their current websites are either not optimized at all or have ineffective SEO.

5. Ecommerce Many companies who sell products in smaller quantities or smaller pieces of equipment expressed an interested in setting up an ecommerce store on their websites to see directly to consumers. In addition to increasing their revenue, by selling online they can cut down on the number of small inquiries they get on the phone, which would allow their staffs to focus on serving their large, wholesale clients.

How we can help

At Onrush Digital we build modern, well designed websites that reflect companies’ expertise, integrity and experience. We structure each website to be fully user friendly, allowing users to find the information they need quickly. We also build eommerce websites that work efficiently and seamlessly.

Every website we build comes with a content management system (CMS) to allow you to update, change or delete any content on the website without having to call and pay anyone else. We also optimize every page on the site according to the most current SEO standards so that it can easily get found by Google — and your potential customers.

In addition to our design and development work, we also write and edit content for the website.

To see a case study of a website we built for a company in the chemical industry, click here.

Final Word

If you’re considering updated your company website, we have the experience and expertise to design and develop one that you’ll be proud of and that will impress your customers and partners.

Contact us here or give us a call at 973-797-9896 to learn more and get started.